Guilt Mongering Health Visitor

[Limoncella]

Now I now that Im extremely lucky to have a nice HV, but at DS's 8month development check last week, all was going swimmingly until she asked about how he eats.

'Very well' i said...a jar of whatever ( chicken & veg eg) for lunch, bit of fruit, jar of whatever for tea, yogurt etc. loads of milk. Anything that I put in front of him infact.

The look on her face was priceless - 'So you don't do any cooking for him?' she finally asked...

I then got on the defensive (prob a bad thing) and explained about not having the time. She then said it would be a good idea if I 'made the effort'. Grrrr. This dragged on for 15 mins until she finally gave up. I left feeling annoyed that she was questioning what i did with my days (eeerr, work, commute 1.5hrs, come home, play, put him to bed, eat and then put myself to bed!!)

Now I know its not ideal to feed him jar food, but its organic and no salt/sugar etc. Is it really that bad to do this?

Sorry long post!

Message withdrawn

ikwym re: convenience limoncella, but I would really rather have anything than a plate of smash (cheese toasty or couscous come to mind)

Megglevache...you lovely person you

My favourite 'convenient' meal (just for me) is some simply stir-fried king prawns (garlic/chilli/lemon/wine/spring onions - all or some of them) and some crusty bread. Takes two minutes and is YUM.

Don't feel too bad, I used a lot of jars, cook everything from scratch now but then I am a student with a fair amount of time on my hands! No-one is perfect, you do your best.

I have in the back of my mind that it is also important that babies learn to chew and if little person is only having jars then he isn't learning to chew, which is important for speech development. I may be completely wrong on this so please don't shoot me down, and it may be that the little person has lots of crunchy things as well as jars, but just thought I would mention it (quietly).

Please, whatever you do, don't feel guilty. Guilt is BAD and to be resisted always.

hi- i know it is hard...i also have a veggi steamer which is fantastic.
i chop up the veggie at some point durineg the day of eve and steam them, and don't have to worry about overcooking or burning them if kids kick off etc.
can do it at night and have them all for the next day.

If you have a whole load fo veggies in the frigdge you can offer ans finger food anyway.

another easy recipe is spanish omlette,
butter in pan,
mix up 1-2 eggs per person in a mixer, or just whisk them a bit with a fork in a bowl.
put steamed vegi in pan (is good to include chopped up steamed potatoes too) and then pour the egg mix over.
trun down the heat and let it slowly cook for 10 mins or so.
slide out of the pan and leave to cooland cut into slices- just right for little hands... and adults too
serve with a tone of salad or whatever...
but has protein (eggs), vegiies and carbs (pots) and some oil in it- very balenced and easy meal.

OO - my 3 year old ds loves that ragu sauce - we got some free at Toys R Us. That with pasta is very very quick

Totally Tiggyhop, read that too. Not gonna shoot you down for that! Have a paranioa that he will choke though when I am giving him finger foods!

Have a look at the BLW threads, honestly, it will give you an idea about how to approach finger foods safely, and what you can give.

I personally would avoid whole grapes, hotdog sausages, raw carrot and apple, and stuff that is similarly textured.

nope, won't choke...may gag a bit, and you will be surprised about the large lumps that seem to come back- but gaggin is a normal thing.

I have hovered over lo and panicked on a number of occasions, but do far no probs and they are fine

'Processed food' is just a meaningless term, especially in the context of this thread. We 'process' our food when we cut it up and cook it. Food in jars is 'processed' in the same way that any cooked food is 'processed'. People have been 'processing' their food since humankind began - roasting, boiling, grinding, salting, preserving, drying etc etc. A jar of organic chicken casserole with carrots and broccoli and potatoes, minus salt is far, far more nutritious than some of the things recommended on this very thread - ie cheese on toast. Now, I happen to love cheese on toast, but it isn't organic chicken, carrots and broccoli.
I didn't feed my dd with jars at all, largely because they are expensive and I got out of the habit of buying them, and she wasn't very keen, but ds had plenty (particularly loved the French ones with salt in!). I often think he ate better.
There is a huge amount of snobbery about babyfood in jars, and a lot of misinformation too.
I like the different textures and flavours of things like pitta and hummous etc but it's not really that super healthy.

Jars are ok I think as long as they are being supplemented with lots of fresh fruit and veg.

aloha, could not have put it as well but completely agree with you.

i don't like the way they stain verything that they have come into contact with... and a couple fo my friends' kids went orange when they started on jsrs. we used to laugh about it- but i was a lways a bit wary of them tbh- orange!!

I am actually rather a food snob myself - am currently eating olives in lemon, garlic and pomegranate juice (!) and have that ridiculous middle class rush of pride when my infants announce they love olives and broccoli. I think people who push chips and pies through the school gates to their obese offspring are thick and wrong. But this is a woman who feeds her child organic meat and vegetables and fresh fruit!
I feed my children a lot of pasta, which is basically wallpaper paste tbh, but it has a cachet that jars don't have.

the thing that i don't like about commercially processed food is that you just don't know the quality fo the initial products, so meat especially can be of very inferiroir quality and you wouldn't know becuase it is all just mashed up..
the term emat covers sucha large range of quality and cut.

so i don't like this sort of prodcut just for that reason.

I haven't read all the replies but she just sound like a mean old gasbag who needs to visit earth, where mums do the best they can, often in trying circumstances!

Don't justify yourself next time, just nod, smile and let it all wash over you.

My HV told me I should be giving my DD formula as well as BM as I was clearly exhausted at seven weeks post partum...the fact I'd had a cs followed by liver failure AND a new baby couldn't possibly be the cause could it? (I ignored her obviously)

"this sort of product' is organic for heavens sake! All blooming certified organic products, probably produced in sublimely eco-friendly conditions.

but organic cows bum is still a cows bum and the veggies could still be a bit old and knackered before they go into the pot. You just don't knwo what the original ingredients looked like and which bits of the ingerdients are actually in the pot IMO.
each to their own, though

Ah, and probably stirred by a lovely granny like woman who wears a white apron... it is an industry to make money..
anyway, off to do bath and bed time (yeah)

Sorry, I think it is ridiculous to think any company producing organic baby food would use inferior quality ingredients. The meat used in these jars is ALL organic and free range. How many of can say the same about all our own food?

In all seriousness I think you'll need to buy a microwave sooner rather than later. If you do end up cooking in batches for example and you're in a hurry - you'll come to rely on the defrst setting and won't know how you lived without it!

the cows are reared in an organic manner- and so are the veggies, but who really knows waht the igredients look like and what is used?
I certainly don't, and would suggest that you don't either, aloha- i am not looking for afight, enough on here already, but i think the facts are people like cow and gate and who ever are ther TO MAKE MONEY so will cut costs as much as possible etc.
The food is made in an industrial plant no doubt, not some little farmhouse kitchen..

as i said, an organically reaerd cow still has ears, and who knows where they go in the food chain.. maybe sausage, maybe babyfood, I for one don't know... maybe there is somebody around who can gove us the low down, but I really have no facts to hand to say what is in the food... cue a frenzy of googling cow and gate etc

as i said, i may be wrong- i just don't know which is why i avoid precessed stuff in the main.

just googled it, cow and gate says it is finest quailty... so that's ok then

You're quiteright MrsJohn.
Organic or not,the provenance is unknown.
I want to see what I am eating or what my kids are eating. I want to be able to go 'Ah,a cow's arse!' or 'I see there's a goat's bollock.'

I certainly won't be readily spooning in unidentifiable body parts.

Aloha,your assertion that chicken and vegggies in a jar is healthier than cheese on toast is most odd......

Somoene made the point a while back that there can be chewing issues with too much pureed food. You are dead right.It is something I see all the time in my work as a speeach and language therapist.